Summary of Data Collection Measures, Essay Example

The aim of the current study is to assess treatment failure of chlamydial infection in males and females in Pinellas County, Florida. Additionally, this study seeks to identify factors contributing to the re-infection of chlamydia amongst previously infected patients within this same county. Providing region-specific data on treatment failure and chlamydial rates may help further understand environmental and demographic underpinnings of the disease (Gottlieb, Berman, & Low, 2010; Johnson & Mehta, 2014). To evaluate these factors, this study will seek to obtain accurate data regarding the rate of chlamydia and the rate of treatment failures that exist within this county. No specific hypotheses have been formulated, as this study is exploratory in nature. However, data analytic methods may evolve as trends in the data are observed. The primary data source will consist of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, 2012) Sexually Transmitted Diseases Surveillance report, which contains accurate information on chlamydia rates by region, state, metropolitan area, county, sex, age, race/ethnicity, and even reporting source. Information from this database will be used to identify central tendencies and trends in chlamydia infections and re-infections based on each of these factors. The Florida Health Department’s (n.d.) database on sexually transmitted disease (STD) trends and statistics may also prove to be useful in collection accurate and current information regarding chlamydia in Pinellas County. Therefore, this database will also be used to collect relevant information that may help address this study’s research questions. Although no specific hypotheses have been formulated, a multiple regression model may be constructed to determine which factors play a significant role in predicting treatment re-infection for chlamydia (Abramson & Abramson, 2011; Kleinbaum, Kupper, Nizam, & Rosenberg, 2013).

References

Abramson, J., & Abramson, Z. H. (2011). Research methods in community medicine: surveys, epidemiological research, programme evaluation, clinical trials. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2012). 2012 sexually transmitted diseases surveillance. Retrieved from: http://www.cdc.gov/std/stats12/chlamydia.htm. Accessed 24 Oct. 2014.

Florida Health (n.d.). STD trends and statistics. Retrieved from: http://www.floridahealth.gov/diseases-and-conditions/sexually-transmitted-diseases/std-statistics/. Accessed 24 Oct. 2014.

Gottlieb, S. L., Berman, S. M., & Low, N. (2010). Screening and treatment to prevent sequelae in women with Chlamydia trachomatis genital infection: how much do we know?. Journal of Infectious Diseases, 201(Supplement 2), S156-S167.

Johnson, A. K., & Mehta, S. D. (2014). A comparison of Internet search trends and sexually transmitted infection rates using Google trends. Sexually Transmitted Diseases, 41(1), 61-63.

Kleinbaum, D., Kupper, L., Nizam, A., & Rosenberg, E. (2013). Applied regression analysis and other multivariable methods. Boston: Cengage Learning.